Dealing with an endless stream of seemingly insurmountable challenges comes with the territory for people like Joyce Hlatshwayo who run crèches in impoverished rural communities where crime, teenage pregnancy, and abuse of women and children are prevalent.
Despite her resilience Joyce has often considered throwing in the towel. But these thoughts evaporate in the face of the smiles and joy that greet her on arrival at Siyakhula Etholeni Crèche. The facility is located in Wasbank, Etholeni, which falls under the Indaka Municipality.
The crèche and its 46 pre-school children hold a very special place in the hearts of Joyce and the rest of Etholeni. It was established 15 years ago after two young children drowned in a nearby dam. Evidence suggests that the tragedy occurred because the youngsters were unsupervised.
Now the sanctuary, care and supervision provided to the children in their critical early childhood development (ECD) pre-school years have an additional purpose: contributing to the fight against crime.
The crèche has teamed up with social change agent Khulisa – a non-profit organisation with a national footprint that focuses on holistic social solutions to facilitate wide-scale positive social change.
Khulisa, which has been operating in the Midlands for the past decade, has since 2012 been working with Midlands pre-schools in applying a programme that is known as Social Transformation Systems (STS). This programme is based on the work of internationally-acclaimed process facilitator, Dr Barbara Holtmann, whose research formed the basis for the formation of the Action for A Safe South Africa (AFSSA) initiative in 2008.
She cites compelling evidence that if the right foundations are ingrained in children during early childhood development (ECD), this will, over time, contribute significantly to less troubled communities with lower crime levels – particularly violence against women and children.
Khulisa also runs life skills programmes – known as Diversion Programmes – for youngsters who have had brushes with the law. The programmes are used as alternatives to conventional punitive criminal justice. These programmes include providing psychological workshops and selecting suitable venues for the youngsters to do community service.
Khulisa supports crèche
Khulisa’s attention was drawn to Siyakhula Etholeni Crèche, as one of the best in the area, by the Dundee police. The crèche was initially used for diversion programmes, but it was in March identified as an ideal STS community project partner.
The collaborative process with the crèche has enabled the stakeholders to identify its real capacity building needs, and Khulisa is now facilitating partnerships with organisations that can contribute to meeting these needs.
The crèche has already benefited from the programme, which has had input from the Department Of Social Development, Bambelela Group, community members and the Indaka Mayor, Nathi Mchunu. These partners have contributed land, materials and people to build a safe building to accommodate the crèche children. Fundraising initiatives have also ensured that the crèche now has a good monthly supply of groceries to feed the children.
Joyce, for her years of persistence in stretching minimal resources to provide the best possible ECD environment for her charges, has been nominated as one of the top six Khulisa Midlands projects in a competition organised to celebrate ten successful years in the region.